Home Brew From The Cederberg To Your Teacup

About 12000 tonnes of rooibos tea is exported worldwide each year, and it all comes from a small region in the Cederberg. Evan Naudé visited a farm near Clanwilliam to learn about the process, from stalks under the scythe to the teabag in your cup.

- Evan Naude

A mong imposing mountain peaks somewhere between Clanwilliam and Redelinghuys, the day’s first rays of sunlight tumble through a crevice. The curved blade of a sickle glides through the cold morning air and for a fraction of a second flashes a reflection of the sun into the blue expanse. Today, rooibos will be harvested here on the farm Skimmelberg, 33km south of Clanwilliam.

The stalks of a shrub are hooked neatly from behind – the sickle-like a razor-sharp finger beckoning – and cut off in a sheaf. The rhythmic movement is repeated with practised skill by each of the 30 workers moving abreast through the rooibos plantation. Hook and cut… hook and cut… over and over.

As the sun edges towards noon, the plantation sports a brush cut like that of a farm boy on the first day of school. All around, rooibos stalks lie scattered on the ground like hair on the floor of a barbershop.